Improvement in toys



NiPETERS. FHOTOALITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. [1.34

tniti %ietz5 JOHN HAMILTON HARRISON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

1 Letters Patent No. 113,654, dated April 11, 18717;

IMPROVEMENT IN TOYS.

I, JOHN HAMILTON Hnnnlsomof Philadelphia,

county of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new Toy, of which the following is a spec-- ification.

Nature and Object of the Invention.

My invention consists of a new toy, the construction and operation cf which istoo fully described hereafter to need preliminary description.

Description of the Accompanying Dra/wing.

Figure l is a perspective view of the toy;

Figure-2, a sectional view of the same; and

Figure 3, a perspective view drawnV to a reduced scale, and showing the method of using the toy.

General Description.

The toy, as illustrated in the drawing, consists of a spherical ball, A, of wood, painted in different colors, or otherwise ornamented, and having a holebored eutir'ely through it, into which is driven a plug, B, the latter having cut upon it a spiral groove, a, terminating at ashort distance from the opposite ends of the plug', and having also central holes, b and b', through which and around the said spiral groove is passed a cord, O, furnished at its opposite ends with, suitable handles f.

The plug may be perfectly straight, and be glued or cemented into the opening in the ball A; but I prefer to make it of a tapering shape, and to drive it into a correspondinglylshaped opening in the ball, as shown in the drawing.

In using the toy the cord is held somewhat loosely in a vertical r nearly vertical position, with one handle in each hand, as shown in iig. 3, when the ball, instead of sliding directly down the cord, as with other toys of The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of thevnmc.

this class, will descend with a revolving or twirling motion, owing to the screw-like action of the spiral grqove a' upon the cord.

This twirling motion will increase in rapidity as the ball descends and acquires momentum; but it can be instantly stopped at any time by tightening the cord l and thus preventing the passage of the same through the spiral groove. p l n I havefound that the toy operates most satisfactorily when the `cord is passed through central openings b and b' in the plug, as well as around the spiral groove; but the latter might in some casesbe continued throughout the 'entire length of the plug, and'the central openings be dispensed with.

The',plug might also in some cases be, dispensedl with, and a` spiral hole be formed directly in the ball itself.

The toy might also be modified by substituting a wheel or disk, or a number of .radiating arms, for the spherical ball; but I prefer to employ the latter.

Toys of this class have' heretofore been constructed so that, by tightening the cord, the sliding motion of the ball thereon is arrested; I therefore make no claim to this feature; but

I claim- A toy, consisting of a ball or its equivalent, and a. cord which passes through a4 spiral opening in the ball, so that a rotating motion-will be imparted to the latter as it slides on the cord.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. l

' JOHN HAMILTON HARBISON. Witnesses:

WILLIAM' G. FRALEY,

ANDREW L. EISINHUT. 

